PKK/YPG's terror corridor plan thwarted, SNA captures airport
The Syrian National Army (SNA) has captured the strategic Menagh Airport as part of Operation Dawn of Freedom. Launched to counter the PKK/YPG's plan to establish a terror corridor, the operation sees the SNA continuing clashes with terrorists in and around Tel Rifaat.
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In an operation launched against the PKK/YPG's plan to establish a terror corridor between Tel Rifaat and northeastern Syria, the SNA has taken control of Menagh Airport. The airport, which holds strategic importance due to its location 13 kilometers from Turkey, had been under the occupation of the PKK/YPG terrorist organization since 2016. Russia and Iran had also been using the airport as a headquarters to distribute military supplies.
The terrorist organization had been using this point to target the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operation zones. As part of the operation, clashes between SNA forces and terrorists entrenched in Tel Rifaat are continuing along the northwestern, northeastern, eastern, and southern front lines of the region.
OPERATION DAWN OF FREEDOM
The Syrian National Army had launched Operation Dawn of Freedom against the PKK/YPG's plan to establish a terror corridor between Tel Rifaat and northeastern Syria. With the start of the operation by anti-regime armed groups toward Aleppo, the Syrian regime forces, having lost the areas under their control in a very short time, requested support from the PKK/YPG terrorist organization against these groups, which opened up space for the PKK/YPG. The Syrian regime began handing over the territories under its control to PKK/YPG forces located east of the Euphrates; a large number of PKK/YPG terrorists arrived in the Aleppo region from east of the Euphrates, and the organization's heavy weapons began to be dispatched to the area.
The PKK/YPG terrorist organization, seeing the Syrian regime forces' abandonment of the regions under their control as an opportunity, had activated its plan to create a terror corridor between Tel Rifaat and northeastern Syria. Upon this, SNA groups launched Operation Dawn of Freedom. The SNA cut the road between Raqqa and Aleppo, preventing the PKK/YPG from establishing a terror corridor between Tel Rifaat and northeastern Syria.
THE SITUATION IN TEL RIFAAT
YPG/PKK terrorists had captured Tel Rifaat and some settlements in its vicinity in February 2016 with Russian air support. The terrorist organization displaced approximately 250,000 civilians from Tel Rifaat and its surroundings, and this population took refuge in areas close to the Turkish border. From there, the YPG/PKK attacks settlements in the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operation zones, as well as Turkish security forces and opposition fighter positions providing security.
The PKK/YPG terrorist organization, which occupied the Tel Rifaat district, tried to hold the district by acting in concert with the Assad regime and its supporters. With the entry of anti-regime armed groups into the city center of Aleppo, regime forces withdrew from Tel Rifaat.